The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/447116
FOOTBALL RECRUITING today were recruited by Harbaugh at Stanford. Indianapolis Colts quarter‑ back Andrew Luck was listed by Ri‑ vals.com as a four‑star prospect, the No. 4 pro‑style quarterback nation‑ ally and the No. 68 overall player in the 2008 class. Along with four‑star wide receiver Christopher Owusu, Luck was a major coup for Har‑ baugh after his first Stanford team rebounded to just 4‑8. In subsequent years (and following more success on the field), the recruit‑ ing results continued to improve. The 2009 class saw eight four‑star play‑ ers sign with the Cardinal, including eventual All‑American linebacker Shayne Skov and tight end Levine Toilolo, who is now a member of the NFL's Atlanta Falcons. The positives continued in the fol‑ lowing two classes (including the 2011 group, after which Harbaugh left Stanford to become the San Fran‑ cisco 49ers' head coach). Five four‑ stars joined the 2010 class and six were in the 2011 class, including a three‑year starter in linebacker James Vaughters (a four‑star recruit, the No. 4 inside linebacker nationally and the No. 54 overall prospect — from all the way across the country in Tucker, Ga.). Harbaugh's successor, David Shaw, turned the on‑field results into an even greater success on the trail, landing the country's No. 5 overall recruiting class in 2012 — the highest of the Rivals.com era for Stanford. For all his ability to land high‑pro‑ file prospects, however, Harbaugh's identification and development of under‑recruited talent may be just as exciting. A two‑star recruit himself in the 1982 class, according to Joe Terranova (the only recruiting guru at the time with a national scope), Harbaugh went on to an All‑America career in Ann Arbor and 15‑year stint in the NFL. He knows as well as any‑ one — from first‑hand experience — that one need not be a heralded recruit to succeed at the next level. Tight end Jim Dray was just a three‑star prospect in 2005 (two years before Harbaugh arrived in Star quarterback Andrew Luck of the NFL's Indianapolis Colts headlined Harbaugh's 2008 class at Stanford. PHOTO COURTESY STANFORD